First rising to prominence as lead guitar with Rickey Medlocke's Blackfoot from 1988 to 1993, he was also known as a member of Ryan Adams' backing band the Cardinals from 2005 until 2009, with whom he recorded three studio albums.

He played in several groups, including the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Hard Working Americans, Beachwood Sparks, The Skiffle Players, GospelbeacH[2] and Circles Around the Sun– and released twelve albums as a solo artist.

In 1994, Casal signed with Zoo Entertainment and recorded his debut album at Palacio del Rio,[3] formerly owned by James Stewart and Dean Martin in Santa Ynez, California, with producer Jim Scott.

[8] During the spring of 1999, Casal teamed up with Six String Drag front man Kenny Roby and toured Europe,[9] later that summer recording the live album Black River Sides.

[10] In 2002, Casal co-wrote, produced and released the EP Ran On Pure Lightning collaborating with Shannon McNally and other musicians which included Benmont Tench, Greg Leisz, bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson and Brent Rademaker.

[11] Around this time, Casal also started playing with bassist Jeff Hill and drummer Dan Fadel, forming Hazy Malaze.

[12] Railroad Earth's 2002 album Bird in a House featured a cover version of Casal's song "Dandelion Wine".

[15] In December of that year he embarked on his third Japanese tour, which featured his first photography exhibition and upon his return released No Wish to Reminisce in early 2006.

The album, produced by Michael Deming (Beachwood Sparks, Lilys), took his music in a different direction from his previous work, with a more layered, psychedelic production.

[17] The album included musicians Jon Graboff, Greg Leisz, Johnathan Rice, Jeff Hill, Dan Fadel and Andy Goessling.

[20] In 2013, Casal joined Hard Working Americans alongside Todd Snider, Dave Schools, Chad Staehly and Duane Trucks.

The supergroup's debut album Hard Working Americans was recorded at Bob Weir's TRI Studios in 2013 and released on January 21, 2014.

In 2016, Casal joined three other Beachwood Sparks alums, Farmer Dave Scher, Dan Horne, and Aaron Sperske, and songwriter Cass McCombs to form The Skiffle Players.

[21] In the summer of 2002, while touring with Shannon McNally, Casal formed Hazy Malaze with fellow band members Dan Fadel and Jeff Hill.

[26] In 2008, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals released Cardinology, recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York and produced by Tom Schick.

On April 16 Ryan Adams released Class Mythology, which is an EP of unreleased tracks recorded with the Cardinals during the Cardinology period.

[32] Casal played on Gin Wigmore's 2009 album Holy Smoke[33] produced by Mike Elizondo, which won four of the six New Zealand Music Awards it was nominated for and went Quadruple Platinum.

In addition to preserving his artistic legacy, the NCMF provides musical instruments and lessons to students in New Jersey and New York state schools an donations to mental health organizations that support musicians in need.

Contributing artists included Marcus King, Eric Krasno, Phil Lesh, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Jimmy Herring, Oteil Burbridge, Bob Weir, Warren Haynes, Steve Earle, and The Allman Betts Band.